What the Nobel Means for Microcredit

What the Nobel Means for Microcredit
Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus promotes peace not by brokering treaties, but by uprooting poverty through entrepreneurialism
On Friday, Oct. 13, Grameen Bank of Bangladesh and its founder, Dr. Muhammad Yunus, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for helping to establish the microcredit movement, which involves the granting of small loans to poor people with no collateral, across the developing world (see BusinessWeek.com, 12/26/2005, "Nobel Winner Yunus: Microcredit Missionary"). The Norwegian Nobel Committee's statement said it awarded the prize of $1.4 million to Yunus and the bank "for their efforts to create economic and social benefit from below." The statement continued, "Lasting peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty."